426 HEMI- FORMERLY OWNED BY TOM HOOVER-FATHER OF THE HEMI!! This is a fantastic Mopar with great history and significance. This is a 1966 Dodge Hemi Coronet and not just any Hemi Coronet. This is the car that Tom Hoover (The father of the Hemi engine) built to campaign on the streets of Detroit. This is the purpose built street racer that gave Mopar its winning street exposure and credibility.
The car is fully documented with everything from the original protecto-plate to the hand written diary of Tom Hoover that documents how the car was maintained. The car has all types of performance enhancements that were designed to make this the fastest car on the road. This included special carburetors, camshaft, Aluminum A990 Heads, Intake modifications, Hooker headers, Roller rocker arms, Special adjustable suspension and transmission modifications. They even specially ducted the cold air intakes from the sides of the grill by removing the parking lights and to keep it legal, they took a 1967 prototype Coronet bumper that had a provision for parking lights and installed it on the car. This was before the 67s were even out. There were changes made to the interior as well. This includes the addition of the lightweight A100 seats and brackets, removal of the back seat, addition of under dash gauges, addition of a low mounted tachometer (as not to be readily visible by onlookers or police), moved the battery to the trunk for better weight distribution and added a performance floor mounted shifter.
The car has been in the same ownership for the past 30 years. When the current owners rescued the car and began the restoration, they wanted to be certain that every detail was correct to the way Tom Hoover built it. They accomplished this by getting Tom Hoover himself to supervise the restoration! The result was outstanding.
Within the photographs is a fantastic article that chronicles the build and history of this amazing car. Its a “must read” for those who are enthusiastic about performance cars of this era.
